Synopsis, Comments on The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl

Çalıkuşu ("The Wren," 1922) is a Turkish novel by Reşat Nuri Güntekin (1889-1956).

The novel was published in English translation in 1949 under the title of The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl. It has been made into a film twice and was also adapted for a TV series.

There are at least eleven translations from the original Turkish which I know of (see below).

Çalıkuşu is a story about the destiny of a young Turkish female teacher in Anatolia. I would characterize it as a coming of age novel cum love story.

The writing is extraordinary. The story is completely engrossing.

You get a feeling for the life of a young woman. You get a feeling for Muslim culture and for a foreign country.

The first person narrator, Feridé Hanim, the Turkish girl -- nicknamed Çalıkuşu (the “wren”) -- is educated in a Catholic girls school yet is Muslim -- the novel bridges the gap between two worlds and makes what is strange and exotic interesting and intelligible. (Note – Hanim is not a last name like Smith or Jones; rather, one should probably translate “Feridé Hanim” as “Miss [or perhaps Mademoiselle] Feridé.”)

The author’s deft style, his use of metaphor, his use of telling details are impressive. The book is full of wry insights; humor; and memorable, affecting characters.

The English translation, The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl, published in 1949 in London by George Allen & Unwin Ltd, is by Sir Wyndham Deedes.

-- Roger W. Smith

September 2016

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Note – The commentary and references to the novel that follow are based on the English translation, The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl, translated by Wyndham Deedes (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1949). Page numbers are from that edition.

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PLOT:

from Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87al%C4%B1ku%C5%9Fu

The events in the novel take place in the early twentieth century, near the collapse of a war weary Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Turkish republic. Most of the novel is recounted in first-person diary format by Feridé. In the first section, Feridé describes her childhood, beginning from the beginning and leading to the events that led her to a strange hotel room. The second and largest section consists of diary entries describing her adventures in Anatolia. The third section is the only one written from the third person point of view, describing Feridé’s visit to her home.

Feridé is the orphaned daughter of an army officer. As a teenager, she attends Lycée Notre-Dame de Sion in the winter, and stays with one of her late mother's sisters during the summer holidays. She is given the nickname "the Wren" during her time at school for her vivacity and mischief. These two characteristics considered unusual and even a bit inappropriate for Muslim girls at that time.

She gets engaged to her charming cousin Kâmran, whom she leaves the night before their wedding upon discovering that he has been unfaithful to her. She runs away from home to become a teacher in Anatolia, although she remains desperately in love with Kâmran. She is forced to move from town to town several times during her first three years as a teacher, as a result of the incompetence of officials, the malice of colleagues and the unwanted attention she gets from men because of her beauty and her lively manner.

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Meanwhile, she adopts a little girl called Munisé, finds out that Kâmran has married the woman he had cheated on Feridé with, and develops a friendship with Hayrullah Bey, an elderly military doctor who treats Feridé with fatherly affection. At the end of these three years, Munisé dies and Feridé is forced to resign from her post and marry the doctor because of the rumors about her "indecent behavior".

A couple of years later, Feridé returns to Tekirdag to visit one of her aunts and her cousin Mujgan, where Kâmran, now widowed and with a small child, also happens to be. He has never gotten over Feridé, painfully regrets having cheated on her, and confesses to have married the other woman only out of pity after he heard false rumors about Feridé being in love with another man. The night before her arranged departure, Feridé confesses to Mujgan that her marriage to the doctor has never been consummated and he has in fact died recently.

The doctor told Feridé to revive her ties to her family as his last wish, and gave her a package to be entrusted to Mujgan. Mujgan takes the package to Kâmran, which turns out to be Feridé’s diary which was hidden and preserved by the doctor. Finding out that Feridé is still in love with him, Kâmran arranges to be wedded to Feridé the next day without her knowledge. The novel ends with their long-awaited reunion, and Kâmran’s confession that he betrayed her all those years ago because of his insecurity about her love for and loyalty to him, due to her ostensible frivolity and harsh treatment of him.

The English translation, The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl, translated by Sir Wyndham Deedes, is incomplete, omitting the book's third section, according to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87al%C4%B1ku%C5%9Fu

A couple of years later, Feridé returns to Tekirdag to visit one of her aunts and her cousin Müjgan, where Kâmran, now widowed and with a small child, also happens to be. He has never gotten over Feridé, painfully regrets having cheated on her, and confesses to have married the other woman only out of pity after he heard false rumors about Feridé being in love with another man. The night before her arranged departure, Feridé confesses to Mujgan that her marriage to the doctor has never been consummated and he has in fact died recently.

He told Feridé to revive her ties to her family as his last wish, and gave her a package to be entrusted to Müjgan. Müjgan takes the package to Kâmran, which turns out to be Feridé's diary which was hidden and preserved by the doctor. Finding out that Feridé is still in love with him, Kâmran arranges to be wedded to Feridé the next day without her knowledge. The novel ends with their long-awaited reunion, and Kâmran's confession that he betrayed her all those years ago because of his insecurity about her love for and loyalty to him, due to her ostensible frivolity and harsh treatment of him.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

Feridé -- she is usually called Feridé Hanim, which manes Miss or Mademoiselle Feridé (Feridé being her first name). Hanim is not a last name. Her actual full name, used only once in the novel is, Feridé Nizamettin, Nizamettin being are the last name of her father. Her nicknames are Calicos (the wren; hence the title of the novel) and sometimes she is called lightheartedly Gülbeșeker (meaning not clear).

Kâmran (Kâmran Bey) -- Feridé’s cousin and lover

Munisé -- an orphan child whom Feridé adopts

Doctor Hayrullah Bey -- an elderly military doctor whom Feridé marries

Hadji Kalfa -- “the old porter” a great character

Yusuf Efendi

;llovIhsan Bey

Münevver (aunt)

Müjgan (cousin)

FOREIGN WORDS

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"abla" -- Turkish word meaning elder sister or woman older than one itself, which is the basic meaning … it is at term of endearment and is what Munisé calls Feridé (“Abla” with a capital A) … Abla is also used as a respectful title used when addressing a woman (ma’am)

Bey – bey was the word for the governor of a district or province in the Ottoman Empire. It was formerly used in Turkey as a courtesy title.

çalıkuşu – wren. A small, brownish bird. Wrens are known known for their loud and often complex songs. “Members of the genus Campylorhynchus can be quite bold in their behavior” (Wikipedia).

çarșaf – a long veil or wrap; worn outdoors

Efendi – Mr.

Hadji (also transliterated as Haji, Hadji, or Haci) -- a common Arabic title meaning a man who has completed the hajj to Mecca. It is also often used as a given name or surname.

Hanim – a form of address corresponding to either “Mademoiselle” (Miss) or “Madame” (Madam).

halva (220) – food; a Middle Eastern confection made of sesame flour and honey.

hodja (137, 275) -- it means a Muslim schoolmaster … “in a turban and baggy trousers” (pg. 275)

ju-jub trees (318) – usually spelled jujube, it is a small deciduous tree or shrub which is used primarily as a shade tree that also bears fruit.

kalfa – a foreman

kasunpat (276) – a flower

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kinali kuzu (314) -- a little lamb

molla --- the Turkish word for mullah … a mullah is a Muslim who is learned in Islamic theology and sacred law.

narghilé – a Turkish water pipe … narghilé water (pg. 121) would therefore be the water in the hookah, that you see bubbling… he “rinsed the narghilés” (pg. 122)

Muhtar (146) – a village headman (chief), community leader

pasha (242, 248, 266) -- the title of a high ranking Turkish officer under the old regime

piastre – usually spelled piaster; a monetary unit of several Middle Eastern countries. A piaster is a small amount of money.

raki (223) – a strong alcoholic spirit made in eastern Europe or the Middle East

Ramazan (pp. 149, 168) – the Muslim month of fasting; NOTE – it should be Ramadan (with a d)

PLACES

Alacakaya – a small Turkish town and a district of Elazığ Province …. Alacakaya Farm (pg. 305, 306).

Bandirma (p. 219) -- a city in northwestern Turkey.

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Beyrout (pg. 249, 265) – presumably, the Turkish name for Beirut, Lebanon … “[Ihsan Bey has] “been appointed to Beyrout on promotion” (pg. 249)

Brusa (244) -- the historical name of the city Bursa in Turkey … Bursa is a large city located in northwestern Anatolia.

Karşiyaka (pg. 269) -- a district of İzmir Province in Turkey.

Kayrakli (pg. 274) -- Kayrakli is located in the region of Kütahya in Turkey, around 200 miles west of Ankara

Kozyatak (pg. 262) – it seems that is a misspelling, or a variant spelling, for Kozyatăgi (see below)

Kozyatăgi (pg. 255) – a neighborhood of Kadıköy, one of the districts of Istanbul.

Kokaryala (pg. 275) ???? (don’t know)

Konia (pg. 275) -- a village in Cyprus. Cyprus is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is to the south of Turkey.

Kuşadasi (pp. 277, 279, 280, 306) -- a resort town on Turkey's Aegean coast. The town is about 60 miles south of İzmir. … “Kuşadasi my namesake” (pg. 279).

Monastir (129, 130) -- don’t know (?) … it seems to refer to what was a district or province of the Ottoman Empire.

Penertee (pg. 298) – don’t know

Rhodes – an island located just off the Anatolian coast of Turkey

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Rumelia (130) – a historical term describing the area now referred to as the Balkans or the Balkan Peninsula when it was administered by the Ottoman Empire

Subaşi (pg. 256) – don’t know; could this be an old district or region under the Ottoman Empire?

Smyrna (pg. 264 and elsewhere) was an Ancient Greek city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. It is now the city of İzmir, Turkey. İzmir, located in in the western extremity of Anatolia, is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara.

Tekirdǎgi (pp. 55, 244, 319) – I could not find any information about this place by Googling it … it is where Feridé’s family comes from.

Zeyniler (pp. 149, 269, 318) -- Zeyniler is a place in the Hatay Province in Turkey. Hatay Province is located in southern Turkey on the Mediterranean coast.

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COMMENTARY

Below are some specific comments on the text, based on a close reading. (I took notes as I was reading the novel; it was my first time.)

I have commented on language and wording where appropriate. The wording is occasionally awkward, there is frequent use of Britishisms, and there appear to be some mistakes in translation.

I have quoted and commented on passages I particularly like. The author has a gift for conveying things about characters, scenes, and situations though figurative, poetic language and

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his genius for metaphor.

I have commented occasionally on characters and incidents. The author invents wonderful, memorable characters, who come alive because of their idiosyncrasies. He grounds the novel in the particular, which makes it seems like a true story.

When words are used that are not common, or when a literary allusion that is not readily recognized has been made, I have attempted to clarify this.

pg. 23

compunction … it means a feeling of guilt one gets after doing something bad or something you known you shouldn't have done

pg. 27

I was wondering, at this early stage of the book, whether Feridé’s cousin Kâmran Bey might be gay. Because he seems to act effeminate, fusses about clothes, and is sort of prissy. It turns out that he is by not gay. It is a novel about Muslims in the early twentieth century; they probably had no such conception.

Çalıkuşu/Feridé’s aunt suggests that maybe she should marry Kâmran, but she doesn't take the suggestion seriously.

I was wondering: could Çalıkuşu be Catholic? She goes to a Catholic school and some of her classmates make their First Holy Communion. (It turns out that she is not Catholic.)

pp. 29-33

A charming story about the cherry tree that Çalıkuşu climbs, from which she throws pits at a man walking below.

Feridé and her cousin like to play "ducks and drakes." This is a game kids like to play of making flat stones skip or bounce on the surface of a stream or lake by throwing them at the water.

The book gives me a feeling for what the experience of girlhood is like, I did not realize at first

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that the author was a man!

pp. 48-49

Çalıkuşu uses the word “fondants.” A fondant is a creamy paste used to make sweets (e.g., candy). The word comes from the French "fondre,' which means to melt – in other words, melt in one's mouth.

pg. 60

The narrator, Çalıkuşu, says: “Faced with this unexpected attack from Müjgan, this time I kept quiet. After struggling the whole night long, I had turned myself into Monsieur Ségen’s cat by morning” [italics added].

Either the author or perhaps the translator made a mistake -- I would guess the author.

It should be Monsieur Ségen’s GOAT (chèvre - French for goat).

“Mr. Seguin's Goat” is a French children’s story. In the story, the goat wants to be free. The goat begs the owner to let it go to the mountain where the goat imagines everything will be beautiful and wonderful. The goat finally gets its way. It goes to the mountains and a big bad wolf eats it.

Also – its Monsieur SEGUIN – not “Segen.”

pg. 89

The cook chases Çalıkuşu with a skimmer. A skimmer is a cooking utensil.

pg. 95

The book gets very interesting when the "mystery woman" tells Feridé that there was another woman in Kamran's life. This revelation turns out to be key to the entire plot and structure of the novel.

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pg. 97

"Just as a dim light pervades the world, before the sun rises, so, before seeing the golden flower, a similar light had pervaded his heart." … beautifully expressed

pg. 98

"Kamran Bey Efendi: I have learnt the romance of the Golden Flower from beginning to end. We shall not meet one another again in this world. I despise you."

pg. 100

Hadji Kalfa says to Çalıkuşu: “you must try not to cover your fingers with ink when you're writing; that's what really disgraces you in front of the children." Funny little statements -- little details -- like this bring the characters and novel alive. Make it and them real.

pg. 103

Çalıkuşu is fleeing her home, running away. It's not entirely clear to me why she suddenly decides to do this.

She says, “I turned down one of the roads at the back of İçerenköy.” İçerenköy is a neighborhood on the Asian side of Istanbul. (A personal note: I spent about a week in Istanbul on a trip in the 1970's. My friend and I took a ferry to the Asian side. It was sort of like going from Manhattan to Queens. The Asian side was not nearly as nice.)

pg. 104

hennaed hair (wearing a shawl over) … hair “the colour of henna” (pg. 169)

pg. 105

“old Circassian servant” … Circassians are a group of mainly Sunni Muslim peoples of the northwest Caucasus.

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pg. 106

cambric blinds (“cambric” is also used on pg. 302) … cambric is a lightweight, closely woven white linen or cotton fabric.

pg. 107

“throwing half of the potatoes away with the skins” (he has lively images and uses good metaphors)

“an ignorant Circassian”

pg. 111

“the woman with the china-blue eyes” (Tolstoian technique; identify a character in the book by a telling feature)

pg. 113

“Either I like a person the first time I meet him, or I don’t.”

a man with a white and black beard which “gave him a queer look”

pg. 114

“nothing will stop this tongue of mine”

pg. 115

“it is possible to find real humanity among human beings occasionally”

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pg. 117

“[Feridé] speaks French like a nightingale” (the Director says)

“the moment of parting … was descending on me like a cloud”

pg. 118

“the doors seemed to open of themselves”

pg. 119

“the wild delight of racing through that expanse of blue, with gleams of light flickering on every side”

pg. 120

“Kâmran, the aversion I feel isn’t only for you; it’s for the places where you are, as well.”

washing, she shook and splashed the water “as birds do” (good image)

pg. 121

Feridé has become good friends with Hadji Kalfa

Hadji Kalfa is cleaning a narghilé -- water pipe, which is called here a “hubble bubble (because it bubbles)

Hadji Kalfa refers to “molla’s milk” ... molla is the Turkish word for mullah (a Muslim who is learned in Islamic theology and sacred law).

“still going to school with the dust on her shoes, to teach the other children” (said of Feridé by Hadji Kalfa)

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“I threw my satchel into the air like a ball and caught it again!” (like a child; this shows Feridé’s youthfulness and her playfulness)

pg. 124

“spectacled teacher” – this should be BEspectacled teacher. It is an error, perhaps made by the translator (or an editor).

“they say it’s the nightingale that has to suffer for its song” …This seems to be a reference to Philomela, a figure in Greek mythology. See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philomela

Philomela, after being raped and mutilated by her sister's husband, Tereus, obtains her revenge and is transformed into a nightingale, a bird noted for its song. Because of the violence associated with the myth, the song of the nightingale is often depicted or interpreted as a sorrowful lament.

pg. 132

Mirat, son of Hadji Kalfa … note that the name is usually spelled as Mirat (Armenian); Murat (Ottoman).

pg. 133

“She moved from her seat rather like a barge moving off from a pier” (nice metaphor)

Feridé is a Muslim woman, but she knows Christianity.

pg. 134

“your eyes, with the treacherous lights in them, like sea-weed, in green water”

pg. 137

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“how they press round merchants crying their wares on the streets of Istanbul, cheapjacks, street quacks” and vendors of patent medicines”

cheapjack: a seller of cheap inferior goods, typically a hawker at a fair or market

cry one’s wares: when a merchant in a street or storefront calls out loud to passersby to tell them what he is selling (example: “fresh peaches here, only a dollar a pound!”)

press round: means that a crowd of people gathering around a merchant

They are busybodies (my term)!

“Suddenly a great big Hodja, with a green turban and a white beard, appeared at my shoulder.”

pg. 143

jarvey – a carriage driver who drive a hackney coach

pg. 144

“this parting is more painful to me then last night’s kicking [by a mule]” (said by Hadji Kalfa)

two-wheeled carts that seemed “to be groaning with weariness”

pg. 145

the jarvey talked to his horses “as if he were talking to a human being”

pg. 147

up a dark staircase “whose steps swayed with age”

pg. 151

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“I am alone in my room.” – there is a sudden switch to the present tense here; the narrator does this, as if at one minute it’s her diary we are reading, and at other items she’s being a first person narrator.

pg. 162

Feridé calls the little orphan girl in her class (Munisé) a “mite.” Mite: a little spider.

Munisé turns out to be a major character. She is one of the best characters in the book, seeing the most affecting one.

The author has a great skill at characterization – for inventing characters and working them into the story. Often, a character such as Munisé will seem to appear incidentally, then will become a central figure. At other times a character, such as an employee or functionary associated with one of the schools where Feridé teaches, will play a major part in an incident or chapter, then will disappear from the novel. An example might Șehnaze Hanim, the Assistant Director, who confiscates Jemile’s letter (pp. 218-220).

pg. 163

The effect of the orphan child Munisé on Feridé is described beautifully: “[she] had affected me like warm spring sunshine. It was as if a bright ray of light had fallen on bird’s nest buried in snow.”

pg. 165

Vehbi takes revenge on Munisé’s attackers (the girls who are tormenting her).

Munisé’s “teardrops were falling drop; by drop, not on the small girl’s face, but into my heart.”

pg. 166 (near bottom)

Again, there is a switch to present tense (diaristic mode).

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pg. 173

Feridé finds Munisé in the snow – an extremely touching scene.

“What is there in the whole world more beautiful than the power to do even a little bit of good?”

pg. 174

As I write these lines, Munisé is sleeping. ....” Note present tense. The novel skips back between past and present tense. So, sometimes we seem to reading a diary, and at other times a novel narrated in the first person.

pg. 195

“My uncle would take me by the now and then, and say, ‘Ah, my importunate girl: first you look on one as a stranger and run away; then you stick on to one the resin of a tree.”

importunate: persistent, especially to the point of annoyance or intrusion

pg. 197

Feridé uses “old dear” when addressing a servant woman.

old dear – an awkward phrase; sometimes the translation seems less than adequate. Perhaps “old dear” is a Britishism or an antiquated phrase.

pg. 202

“the vision of Munisé playing with her kid, and waiting for me our room at the hotel.”

“kid” - presumably a goat

kid -- a young goat

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pg. 217

“How deep a feeling for music you have; and how sensitive a heart, Feridé Hanim. I am amazed that a child’s spirit should be acquainted with such an ocean of melancholy.” (said by Yusuf Efendi to Feridé)

Feridé says of the sheikh that he “could bring sounds from a mere block of wood.”

pp. 218-220

Feridé rescues Jemile’s letter -- a letter that was supposedly sent to her by her “brother in Syria” (actually a young lieutenant) -- from the stove where the Assistant Director, Șehnaze Hanim, who had confiscated the letter, had put it. Feridé surreptitiously puts the letter in a pocket in the overalls of Jemile, who is sleeping.

An engrossing contretemps, a story within a story.

The novel is built upon all sorts of incidents like this, another, a similar one being when Feridé throws cherries at the man from the tree. Such stories fit nicely into the fabric of the novel and reveal Feridé’s feisty personality.

pg. 220

“Fortunate girl,” I said. “I wonder how glad you’ll be when you find the letter from your lover in the pocket of your school overall? You’ll ask yourself what invisible fairy came in then night and left you what you’d lost. Jemile, it’s not a fairy; it’s only a poor creature—a luckless person always condemned to burn her own letters, and part of her heart with them, because they came from someone she hates [italics added].”

pg. 225

“‘Yusuf Efendi loves you to death, Feridé,’ she said.”

pg. 227

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“I can’t help wondering what I meant.” – my comment: she knew what! (she meant)

pg. 232

“like a leaf fallen into the flood, I was being borne along against my will”

pg. 237

“blear eyes” -- the word should be BLEARY – bleary: unfocused or filmy from sleep or tiredness (said of the eyes)

Hafiz Kurban (a neighbor): his eyes “shone like two mosque candles in his moon-shaped face”

pg. 238

“a coppice of willow and plane trees” – coppice (a British word): an area of woodland in which the trees or shrubs are, or formerly were, periodically cut back to ground level to stimulate growth and provide firewood or timber (a British word)

“The lower branches of the willows have been pollarded. …” -- to pollard (verb): to cut off the top and branches of a tree to encourage new growth at the top

pg. 240

Feridé learns what Gülbeșeker means. A colleague tells her: “Gülbeșeker is the name the men here have given you because of your lovely colour.”

pg. 241

landau – horse drawn four wheeled carriage with a front and a back cover

Feridé says: “she [Munisé] leapt on to my back like a cat”

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pg. 242

“long moustaches like a ram’s horn”

“Adurahman Pashas” – see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahman

Abd al-Rahman or Abd ar-Rahman is a male Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words Abd, al- and Rahman. The name means "servant of the most merciful", ar-Rahman being one of the names of God in the Qur'an.

pg. 243

“I love children, and people of no importance: but I’m always up against those who boast of wealth.”

pg. 244

“After all, no one else will read my diary, so why shouldn’t I tell it everything?”

Feridé’s aunt tells her, “Your eye-brows are like a conversation; they begin so nicely and delicately, and then they lose their way.” It is spelled “eyebrows” (no hyphen) in modern English.

Feridé’s various nicknames: Çalıkuşu, Gülbeșeker, silkworm

“April roses touched with hoar-frost” -- hoar-frost: a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc.

pg. 245

“gaucheries” – gaucherie: awkward, embarrassing, or unsophisticated ways (the origin of the word is French; from French word gauche, meaning left, as in left handed)

“my looks made the spoons in their fingers tremble”

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pg. 248

“I introduced myself: Feridé Nizamettin, one of the non-commissioned officers of the education army.” (Irony.)

This seems to be the onlyh pace in the book where the nartoaar is called Feridé Nizamettin. It is in fact her full name. Her fathre’s name was Feridé Nizamettin. It

pg. 251

“…. I made a mistake; and another name crossed my lips – the name of my great and hated enemy” [Kâmran].”

pg. 253

“the school is a scared place, like the Mosque.”

subaltern – the word means a British army officer of lower status; it is also used as a general term meaning someone in a hierarchical system (such as the educational or school system) who is of a lower rank or status.

“public house” – means pub (bar); a Britishism

pg. 254

“Çalıkuşu was beginning to feel the wind of exile again, from those mountains.”

“My birds had their revenge. During those long holiday months, I have been imprisoned, as they were [in their cages].” -- good metaphor

pg. 255

“What an enigma man’s mind is!”

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pg. 257

“a worm of anxiety was gnawing at my heart”

“pergolas” – pergola: an archway in a garden or park consisting of a framework covered with trained climbing or trailing plants.

pg. 259

“My heart seemed to be in an iron vice. …”

pg. 260

“The sound of singing was coming from far away, like the sound of the sea.”

settee – a long upholstered seat for more than one person

“The long mirrors gleamed on the walls, and made the room seem endless; the reflection of the chandeliers was repeated in them far into the distance, like torches on a dark road.”

pg. 262

“heavily-scented carob-trees” --- carob-tree: a small evergreen Arabian tree that bears long brownish-purple edible pods

pg. 264

“Her sympathy [the headmistress’s] quite overwhelmed me. I snuggled up to her like a kitten saved from death in rain and snow. ...”

“It seemed to me that I would find consolation here, like faint perfume in a handkerchief.”

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“I wrapped myself up in my greatcoat against the wind. I had sat up on deck until the moon rose and the deck was deserted. … I had always loved the living sea --- the smiling, moaning, wrathful sea.”

greatcoat -- a long heavy overcoat

pg. 266

“I understood, now, who had sent the bunch of roses that an old sailor had brought and left in my cabin.” (Ishan Bey)

pg. 270

“quay side” – in American English, this would probably be dockside.

pg. 276

A climactic moment in the book.

pg. 278

“Just as the light can hurt sore eyes, so happiness can hurt sick souls.”

“when you’re with the grown-ups you’re a grown-up, and when you’re with the young, you’re young as well” (said by the old maid servant to Feridé)

pg. 280

“the Almighty created beautiful countries and beautiful seas as he did beautiful faces--to bring pain to man’s heart in secret.”

“there’s been talk of war on all sides.” -- This was the Turkish War of Independence (May 1919 – October 1922). See Wikipedia at

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_War_of_Independence

pg. 284

Hayrullah Bey, the old doctor – a wonderful character

The doctor uses bad words; calls it “soldiers’ language.”

“Hayrullah Bey puts one in mind of small children, whose faults one cheerfully forgives for the sake of their lovable contrition. His second fault is a more serious one. There’s a most incomprehensible delicacy in this rough man. He understands with the most uncanny insight things one hardly dares admit to oneself.”

‘He [the doctor] has one passion -- his love for the poor soldiers he calls his beloved bears.”

pg. 285

“an important bit of tailoring” -- the doctor’s name for an operation

pg. 288

“Oh, unhappy child. You’ve been burning away like firewood with love of him [Kâmran] for years now,” (Said by Hayrullah Bey to Feridé.)

“Love shows itself, like sleep in a child’s eyes” (said by Hayrullah Bey to Feridé).

pg. 289

“The young major [Ishan Bey] spoke with the grief and directness of a child.”

pg. 290

Feridé begs the disfigured Ishan Bey to marry her!

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“I couldn’t free my heart of the feeling that I was betrothed to you [Kâmran].”

pg. 291

convolvulus – a flower

“Don’t forget that happiness can make a person sad.” (said by Feridé to Ishan Bey)

“He [Ishan Bey] wanted to take my hands, but he didn’t dare.”

pg. 292

“we [Feridé and Ishan Bey] parted as brother and sister. …”

“the waving green of the Mediterranean [Sea] danced upon the wall”

pg. 293

“[Hayrullah Bey] denounces whatever he loves … I think he loves me the most when he scolds me”

pg. 295

On this page, there is a diary entry for 5th May, and then it skips (on the same page) to 18th January.

pg. 296

The doctor asks to be taken for a ride with Feridé in a threshing-machine drawn by oxen (meaning that it’s on old fashioned machine).

thresh – verb meaning to separate grain from a plant, typically with machinery (a revolving mechanism)

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“golden waves of a sea of straw”

pg. 297

“it was getting on for twelve” - awkward English; nowadays, we would say, “it was about twelve” or “it was almost twelve”

pg. 298

“once a necessity has been accepted, one finds tranquility and resignation”

pg. 299

“I can still see that room. … The midday sun shone through the leaves of the tree and filled the whole room with a brilliant light. Outside, the birds and the insects of August were chirping, and the sound of a gramophone could be heard in the distance. … At one corner of the looking-glass was a posy she had made with her own hands, from flowers out of the doctor’s garden; on the little table were a handful of coloured stones she had picked up on the seashore, and under one of the chairs a single shoe. On the wall there was a painting of her, that I had done in water-colour, ... with a crown of flowers round her head … and countless trinkets, bits of stuff, glass vases, as well—all the innocent little things dear to a child’s heart. … My little one was lying, white as a sheet, with her head turned a little on one side, in surrender to some oppressive dream. On the shelf at the head of the bed was the doll I had bought her, its face smeared with the kisses the little one had given it, with its bright blue eyes fixed upon her. All the pain and misery of my illness was over; the last breath of life played about her [Munisé’s] mouth, now relaxed in sleep; her slightly parted lips seem to smile, and showed the pearls of her teeth. It was all those same poor things that had so pleased me, from the moment they first touched my heart in a dark village school, until to-day. The birds were still making merry; the gramophone was still playing. The rays of the afternoon sun filtered through the leaves of the tree, touching the child’s pale face with a coulour like the gilded dust left on the finger by the bruised wings of a butterfly, and played a little with the strands of golden hair on her forehead.”

posy – a small bunch of flowers

“looking-glass” -- old-fashioned word for mirror

“All the pain and misery of her illness was over.” This a grammar mistake: it should be WERE over.

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“her slightly parted lips seem to smile, and showed the pearls of her teeth”; this is a grammar mistake; it should be SEEMED to smile.

Mazlum – Munisé is holding Mazlum is in the painting Feridé did of her. Mazlum is a Turkish word meaning “oppressed.” I think Mazlum is the name of Munisé’s doll.

pg. 300

“Death was approaching the child [Munisé] with the softness of a ray of moonlight. …”

“The doctors had approached the bed. I saw that one of them had taken the child’s bare arm from under the silk counterpane, and was inserting a needle into it. … The birds were still singing; the gramophone went on playing more and more cheerfully. Suddenly a strong smell of heliotrope pervaded the room. Heliotrope – that bottle I’d taken from the child’s hands by force.”

“From that moment on, I never saw Munisé again.”

“I don’t know what hour of night it was. A strong light blinded my eyes; I felt a hand touching my forehead and my hair, and I opened my eyes. The old doctor was bending over my face with a lamp in his hand; tears were glistening in his half-closed blue eyes with the white lashes.’

counterpane - bedspread

pg. 301

“A butterfly fluttering against the window; the coloured rays of the sun reflected in the corners of the mirror; the faint tinkling bells of a flock of sheep, were enough to make my heart beat unsteadily.” A beautiful passage.

pg. 303

“--what was it I going to say? I’ve no head left.” This is awkward wording (poor translation).

pg. 304

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The doctor’s favorite author is Molière. To make a point, he talks to Feridé about the main character in of Molière’s plays, who is beaten and adopts a strategy to avoid a beating. “How do you know I don’t like being beaten?” the doctor says. The point he is making to Feridé is that he doesn’t mind making sacrifices for her (i.e., help and do kindnesses for her).

Le Médecin malgré lui (“The Doctor in Spite of Himself") is a play by Molière; see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_M%C3%A9decin_malgr%C3%A9_lui

Sganarelle, a poor woodcutter, makes life a living hell for his wife and family by spending what little he earns on food and drink. As the play opens, he is seen arguing with and eventually beating his wife, Martine, who then decides to take revenge. As she is plotting, she hears two passing servants of a rich man mention their frustration at being unable to find a doctor who can cure their master's daughter's mysterious illness. She convinces the two that her husband is an eccentric but brilliant doctor, whom they must beat into admitting his identity. The servants find Sganarelle cutting wood and drinking in the woods nearby and beat him until he finally admits to being a doctor.

The servants take him to meet their master, Geronte, and his daughter Lucinde who has become mysteriously mute. Sganarelle spends his first session with her frantically trying to pass as a real doctor, mainly out of fear of being beaten again. When he sees how much Geronte is willing to pay him, however, he decides to give up woodcutting and remain a "doctor" for the rest of his life.

pg. 305

“When I laugh, I cry; when I cry, I laugh.”

pg. 306

(on the doctor’s farm) “the rocks would change their colour with the sun”

pg. 310

“Whatever hope I cling to comes away in my grasp; whatever I love seems to die.”

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pg. 311

“My heart was full of the deaths of those I had loved.”

pg. 314

“[F]or all your carefree independence of manner, you’re really a single-minded, domesticated girl, modest and rather limited in outlook; the kind of girl they call a ‘Kinali kuzu’: a dutiful little lamb.” (said by Hayrullah Bey to Feridé)

pg. 317

“I wrote this diary for you, Kâmran, who will never read it.”

“my school copy-book, filled by now with writing as fine as spiders’ legs”

pg. 318

“In the darkness of the graveyard at Zeyniler, in the long nights when the wind cried and moaned till the early hours of the morning; in the wide spaces where the faint, doleful chime of the coachbells echoed; along the roads filled with the warm scent of the ju-jub trees of the gardens of willow; through it all I loved face with you [Kâmran], in the arms of your image.” A beautiful passage.

“I don’t suppose that love could have wasted and wearied the soul and body of any widow as much as it has mine. Kâmran, it is only to-day that we part from one another. To-day I become a widow. In spite of all that had happened, you were a part of me. With all my soul I am yours.” (end of Feridé’s diary/journal)

pg. 320

“I surrendered myself with the fatalism of a dry leaf caught in a torrent.”

pg. 325

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“sounded his bugle to the world for the last time”

“her very movements suggesting approach to some unknown embrace”

pg. 326 (top)

Mecnun …. Leyla (mentioned by Hayrullah Bey in letter to Kâmran) --- Layla and Majnun is a love story that originated as poem in 11th Century Arabia and later was adopted by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi; see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Majnun

pg. 327

“You were a Çalıkuşu--a little wren, as elusive to touch as light or sound.” (Kâmran’s letter to Feridé)

pg. 328

“There’s no feeling in the world that doesn’t weaken and lose its strength with time.” (Kâmran’s letter to Feridé)

“I’ve given all my love for to someone else: to Gülbeșeker.” What does this mean?

***************************************************

EDITIONS IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES

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See

https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/623080-al-ku-u

Çalıkuşu

by Reşat Nuri Güntekin

Turkish

Чучулигата

Russian

Пташка співуча

Ukranian

Чучулигата

Bulgarian

ნარჩიტა

Georgian

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Çalıquşu

Azerbaijani

Mazputniņš

Latvian

Čiauškutė

Lithuanian

Linnuke

Estonian

Grmuša

Bosbian (Serbo Croatian)

Pitulicea

Romanian

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The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl

English

WEB LINKS:

Çalıkuşu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87al%C4%B1ku%C5%9Fu

Reşat Nuri Güntekin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re%C5%9Fat_Nuri_G%C3%BCntekin

http://www.turkishculture.org/literature/literature/turkish-authors/resat-nuri-guntekin-245.htm?type=1

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D1%8E%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BD,_%D0%A0%D0%B5%D1%88%D0%B0%D1%82_%D0%9D%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B8

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